Story of the Golden Buddha

by Frank Munkvold

I visited Wat Traimit as part of a Temple tour back in 1999 on my very first trip to Bangkok. The temple was small and non-descript and were it not for the image inside it could easily have been passed over. The Buddha commanded my attention as soon as I entered the temple. It stands over 3 meters tall and weighs 5.5 tons. Solid Gold. Truly impressive.

Photo: Arvind Balaraman

The story of the Golden Buddha goes something like this: 
It was probably cast in the 13th century in Sukhothai. Later the Buddha was moved to Ayutthaya. Probably because of an impending Burmese invasion it was covered up in clay.  According to the story all the monks who knew the truth died and so the truth was lost for centuries. During the reign of Rama III the covered up Buddha was moved to a small temple in Bangkok.

Then in 1957 a group of monks from a monastery had to relocate a clay Buddha from their temple to a new location. When the crane began to lift the giant idol, the weight of it was so tremendous that it began to crack. What's more, rain began to fall. The head monk, who was concerned about damage to the sacred Buddha, decided to lower the statue back to the ground and cover it to protect it.

Later that evening the head monk went to check on the Buddha. He shined his flashlight under the tarp to see if the Buddha was staying dry. As the light reached the crack, he noticed a little gleam shining back. He took a closer look and wondered if there might be something underneath the clay. He went to fetch a chisel and hammer and began to chip away. Hours later he stood face to face with the Golden Buddha…

I don’t remember too much of the temple tour a decade later but I’ll never forget The Golden Buddha.

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